Monday, June 7, 2010

Unsung Heros

Most of the renovations done at the center were underwritten by an unbelievably generous couple who decided to visit the building one day on their way to South Carolina. With their initial donation we were able to clear the debris on the roof and fix major leaks. One year later they again came to visit, and after seeing our progress, made an additional contribution. With that money we were able to replaster and paint the interior walls. We thought of naming the center after this couple, but decided that “The Anonymous Cathedral” sounded too much like the setting of a Sherlock Holmes mystery.

The C-RS Youngstown-Warren-Sharon Chapter and the Cleveland Chapter have been very supportive of our center. They have made annual donations from their proceeds from the Vatra they hold every fall in Boardman, Ohio. Thanks to these contributions, we have been able to fix our floors and purchase a professional quality dehumidifier. This dehumidifier is essential for preserving our archival materials. And you thought only our 15th anniversary pirohy could last forever.

In 2007, Jozef Jurista, a structural engineer from Bardejov Slovakia spent 3 months improving our center. He diverted rain water away from the foundation, repointed the chimney and made other improvements too numerous to mention. Thanks to Jozef, we were able at last to start hosting functions at the center.
The first program we offered was a high energy performance by the contemporary Rusyn musical group Vox Ethnika, (http://www.voxethnika.com) led by Jurko and Sylvia Matolak. By the way their excellent CDs are available for purchase by e-mailing Cathy Silvestri at: Sales@c-rs.org.

We will continue this story of “unsung heroes” in the next installment.